January 19, 2016
The writing is on the wall. With wide-scale adoption of public, private, and hybrid cloud deployments, the cloud is the next big wave in technology, and understandably so. Public, private, and hybrid cloud deployments are attractive models for companies ranging from the small to medium-sized business (SMB) market all the way to the largest enterprise organizations. Cloud computing unveiled previously inaccessible options in disaster recovery, mobility, flexibility, and efficiency.
Yet, when we offer our IT consulting services to our clients throughout Chicago, we encounter one of two perceptions of cloud technology and cloud migration.
Clients are either:
1. Extremely wary of the cloud or don’t understand the concept.
2. Extremely interested in the cloud and want to sign on to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or any of the other public cloud providers immediately.
Both of these two stances on cloud migration can be problematic.
Two Stances on Cloud Migration
1. Wary of the Cloud
The biggest concern IT directors have with the cloud is its security. With the infrastructure located out of sight and out of mind, it can feel as though the IT director has lost direct control. But, that doesn’t mean it is insecure or unprotected. Check out some of these other blog posts to see some security features and protections placed upon the data at a cloud data center.
- 2 Key Ways to Protect Your Data: Colocation and Cloud Solutions
If the concern is based around what protections are placed on the physical servers and data center racks, this blog post illustrates the lengths to which most cloud and colocation data centers will go to protect their client’s equipment and/or data.
- Equinix: A Private Connection to the Public Cloud
Instead of connecting to the public cloud through the internet, Equinix and Mindsight offer an alternative. We can provide a private connection to the public cloud, which alleviates many of the most common concerns with cloud computing. Read our blog post to see how.
2. A Premature Migration
In business and particularly in IT, department directors get applauded for increasing the efficiency of the company. This applause booms twice as loud if the improvements can be done quickly and easily. A public cloud migration that can begin right now as an operational expense (OpEx) can seem like a winning idea, and providers are all too happy to offer their services that way.
Cloud providers want to sell space in their cloud environment as a product or package that is bought as a whole. They want to sell the same SKU (or small collection of packages) to everyone who will purchase it. It’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Sure, maybe the standard cloud package will work for some environments, but the applications and business critical software in question will vary from company to company. No two environments are exactly alike.
The key here is thorough research. When IT directors take this plunge without first assessing their application interdependencies, it can lead to serious inefficiencies, or worse, application incompatibility. Remember, cloud migration is a process, a strategy. Making the move should be treated as such.
The Cloud-Ready Strategic Analysis
To ensure a smooth and efficient transition to the cloud, we recommend our Path to the Cloud Analysis. One of our Mindsight senior engineers will perform an onsite assessment coupled with an offsite analysis. The goal of which is to determine application interdependencies; network utilization; and storage, server, and hypervisor performance. With all this information assembled, our senior engineers can give an accurate assessment of the organization’s readiness to move to the cloud.
From there, we provide the client a report documenting our findings, strategic recommendations, and a technology roadmap for the future. Clients can use this information to make informed decisions regarding their cloud migration, and Mindsight is available to assist in developing a long term strategy.
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About Mindsight
Mindsight, a Chicago IT consultancy and services provider, is an extension of your team. Our culture is built on transparency and trust, and our team is made up of extraordinary people – the kinds of people you would hire. We’ve always prided ourselves in delivering the full spectrum of IT services and solutions, from design and implementation to support and management. Our highly-certified engineers and process-oriented excellence have certainly been key to our success. But what really sets us apart is our straightforward and honest approach to every conversation, whether it is for a local business or global enterprise. Our customers rely on our thought leadership, responsiveness, and dedication to solving their toughest technology challenges.
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